Truth be told, it was a long time since I grown any Lagenaria. However as our summers are cold compared to most of the US, the conditions probably aren't as unlike as one would think looking at the USDA zones and I'd say that the problem of getting Lagenaria to fully mature probably is similar. For that reason they are always started indoors here and transplanted against a warm sunny wall or a greenhouse. Also the vines should be cut one leaf above the fruits, when the plants have 3-4 fruits as this will speed up the maturation process. Obviously this is to late to do this year and you may or may not have done something similar, but I just thought I'd mention it anyway in case you find it useful for another year.
Here we would harvest before frost, but our autumns are usually wet and rather cold, so they wouldn't dry much in those conditions anyway.
I read that it can be beneficial to use for instance some vinegar essence (the one we use in Sweden is usually 12%) on the fruits from time to time during curing as this will help to keep them free from mould.
